Archery has continued to increase in popularity as a sport and recreational activity for both target shooting and hunting. The apparatus used in archery has been continuously developed to a substantial level of sophistication. Increased power and accuracy of archery apparatus has been achieved as practitioners have developed a variety of stronger and more powerful types of bows. One of the most powerful type of bows developed has been that generally referred to as a compound bow. In a typical compound bow, an elongated rigid riser defines a handle grip and supports a pair of extending flexible resilient limbs at opposed ends. The outer ends of each limb support a rotatable eccentric wheel or cam to which a pair of cables and a bow string are secured. An arrow rest is supported upon the riser to support the forward portion of the arrow shaft as the bow is drawn and aimed.
While arrows initially were formed of simple wooden shafts having feather fletchings and fixed arrow heads or points, modern arrows are usually formed of hollow aluminum alloy shafts or composite materials having threaded inserts at the forward end for installing removable points or heads. The remaining end of the arrow shaft typically supports a molded plastic arrow nock which defines a slot for engaging the bow string. The arrow fletchings are most commonly formed of plastic vanes or the like.
The shooting operation is carried forward as the archer selects an arrow and fits the hock to the bow string at a point referred to as the hocking point. The shaft of the arrow is rested upon the arrow rest as the arrow hock and bow string are drawn back flexing the bow limbs and rotating the eccentric wheels to store energy in the bow. Once the bow is drawn, the nocking point on the bow string and the arrow rest define an axis known as the shooting axis along which the arrow is launched once the drawn bow string is released.
Regardless of the different shooting techniques used by various archers, the moments in the shooting operation in which the drawn bow is aimed at the target are the most critical moments in determining the accuracy of the archer. While a number of devices have been provided by practitioners in the art for assisting the archer in maintaining a steady bow position during the final moments prior to arrow release, difficulty in maintaining a steady bow position often plagues even the most experienced of archers.
Despite the advances in archery apparatus directed toward assisting the archer in maintaining a steady bow during aiming and arrow release, there remains nonetheless a continuing need in the art for evermore improved and effective apparatus for achieving a steady aim during the critical moments prior to arrow release.